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Comments [78]

shashi
from NYC

The comment of "Jeff" about yesterday's show was taken down after being posted. Mine was never posted -- ostensibly because we dared to note Patricia T. O'Connor's lack of expertise on the English language. Both of us merely expressed an opinion; we were neither vitriolic nor mean-spirited. Or are our unappreciative opinions considered "off topic"? In any case, now we know: the liberal Lopate show endorses censorship. I will be sure to disseminate this fact on all my public forums.

Nonchalant: OK! My comment is unfair, in that I heard the show at 2:00 pm; have had the time in the past few minutes to check my recollection of "chaland", in my trusted Nouveau Petit Larousse(ed.1968). :n. m. (gr.byzantin "khelandion"); bateau non ponte, a fond plat, destine au transport des marchandises sur les rivieres et les canaux.Perhaps Chalant is a "derivation" of Chaland.k

Pity Miss O'Connor was so dismissive about TEMBLOR simply because she is not familiar with the word. For her to say that temblor cannot be right because there aren't any earthquakes in England is like saying "leprosy" is wrong because we have no leper colonies in the US.Sadly the English spoken in Europe is far more extensive than ours. Take for example the word penultimate. I knew and used it as a child, it comes from the Latin and means next to last. It's not hard to pronounce and it's shorter than the alternative but as a child who learned English abroad my use of 'PENULTIMATE" was never understood here. It was only when I lived in England I finally found average people who knew English better than my teachers in New York. By the way, it's NOT all right to say "the reason is because" - Ms. O'Connor may wish to make her own rules but that doesn't make them right.

Of course Leonard was wrong when he said all parkways lead to parks. The word refers to landscaped roads that typically have no cross streets. What is the likelihood he will acknowledge his mistake, despite a number of listeners pointing it out? This show would be so much better without him.

I came to the show late. Do you have the example "ruthless," "ruthful," and "ruth." My understanding is that the adjective "ruthful" and the noun "ruth" exist but are archaic and hardly used at all in contemporary English. "Ruthful" on the other hand is quite in use.

And just a quick one... to settle a bet... I am from Australia and am constantly teased by my new countrymen on this issue... how to correctly pronounce alluminium or aluminum?In Australia we say allumiinium... why is there a difference?Is there an origin? Which one is correct??

'Nonchalant' has its origins in the french verb 'chaloir', which goes back to the Xth c. and means "to be warm for" in the sense of to be interested in something". 'Nonchalant' figuratively means not to be warmed by something or cool to it, so if one is not warmed by or interested in things in general, one is 'non-chalant.

Please ask Pat about renegged as in he renegged on a promise; wouldn't negg be sufficient? Doesn't re-negg suggest it's being taken back twice?

I come from an earthquake prone country and in spanish we differentiate between a weak and strong earthquake. Temblor (same as in english) is used for a weak movement with little or no damage or casulaties and earthquake is used for a strong movement with damage. The line is not well defined, a 6.0 can be an earthquake, a 5.5 can be both. A 9.0 is definitely an earthquake.

On an WNYC program, I heard a very articulate British speaker. He spoke about an organization that was not "benign." In fact, he described it as "malign." I always thought that the opposite of "benign" was "malignant." What's going on here?

Jean-Marc in Manhattan asks your guest if she could literally give us thethe real meaning and best use of the word literally... because I literally think thata few people are unsure of how to literally use the world literally... like literally!

Why don't we use "Oi" in the States? It's such a great word to say and sounds a lot better than "hey" which as far as I'm concerned is something that horses eat (or at least that's what my 1st grade teacher always told me).

What does Ms. O'Conner think of speakers that are constantly sprinkling their comments with the (overused) phrases "kind of" and "sort of"? It seems to me that they lack confidence in what they are commenting on.

Wonderful essay from the New Yorker with many words without non-negative usages, you have probably already seen it!How I Met My Wifeby Jack Winter July 25, 1994 It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate. I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check when I saw her standing alone in a corner. She was a descript person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way. I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew I'd have to make bones about it, since I was travelling cognito. Beknownst to me, the hostess, whom I could see both hide and hair of, was very proper, so it would be skin off my nose if anything bad happened. And even though I had only swerving loyalty to her, my manners couldn't be peccable. Only toward and heard-of behavior would do. Fortunately, the embarrassment that my maculate appearance might cause was evitable. There were two ways about it, but the chances that someone as flappable as I would be ept enough to become persona grata or sung hero were slim. I was, after all, something to sneeze at, someone you could easily hold a candle to, someone who usually aroused bridled passion. So I decided not to rush it. But then, all at once, for some apparent reason, she looked in my direction and smiled in a way that I could make heads or tails of. So, after a terminable delay, I acted with mitigated gall and made my way through the ruly crowd with strong givings. Nevertheless, since this was all new hat to me and I had no time to prepare a promptu speech, I was petuous. She responded well, and I was mayed that she considered me a savory char- acter who was up to some good. She told me who she was. "What a perfect nomer," I said, advertently. The conversation became more and more choate, and we spoke at length to much avail. But I was defatigable, so I had to leave at a godly hour. I asked if she wanted to come with me. To my delight, she was committal. We left the party together and have been together ever since. I have given her my love, and she has requited it.

Question for Patricia: I've jokingly used the word "whelmed" to imply neutrality (e.g. "The show was okay, I was just whelmed.") - rather than overwhelmed or underwhelmed. To me this word implies a positive and a negative, but no neutral. Are there other words like this, what would you say to this?

Can Patricia address the wide misuse of "to curate" to mean something like edit, aggregate and arrange. I see it (and "curator") everywhere, and I assumed it was being used properly. But when I looked it up, I was shocked to learn that it simply means to "act as a curator" -- and that a curator is simply "one who has the care or superintendence of something," especially one in charge of a zoo, museum or other exhibition space. Is that where the confusion arises? And can this misuse be stopped?

I enjoy podcasting not only your show Leonard, but Soundcheck too-- and this may seem like I'm splitting hairs, but since I hear the same introductory message so often, I can't help but ask which of the two is correct: you say, "...available when you want to listen; and John says, "available when you want."

To me, yours sounds clearer, because it qualifies "want;" in John's, whenever I hear it I find myself asking, "want what?" I guess I'm wishing he'd at least say, "whenEVER you want."

Not pitting you against one of your co-hosts, mind you-- I am a fan of both of you, no matter what! But since we're talking about words here, and because I'm sure you have a growing audience of podcasters, I'm wondering if anyone else notices this.

I've noticed that very few people say "you're welcome" anymore. Rather they say some variation of "it's nothing" or "it's OK" or "thank YOU." Do you have a feel for why this is so? Also what is the etymology of "you're welcome?" In French or Spanish, variations of "it's nothing" are used. Is the eqivalent of "you're welcome" used in other languages?

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